Methods for displaying packaging bags

ABSTRACT

A method of displaying a plurality of packaging bags includes a step of providing a first display region and a second display region on each of the packaging bags. The first display region shows a part of generic information of products contained in the packaging bags to be displayed in a hanging-down region in a compartment of a display rack. The second display shows specific information of the corresponding products in each of the plurality of packaging bags. The method further includes the step of hanging the packaging bags in the hanging-down region at positions where the parts of generic information of the packaging bags hung together form the complete general information.

This application claims priority to Japanese patent application serialnumber 2004-250185, the contents of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to methods of displaying packaging bags,and in particular to methods of displaying packaging bags on a displayrack to which the packaging bags are mounted in a hanging-down manner.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, in large stores and specialty shops, a relatively largewidth display rack is divided in order to provide a plurality of boothswhere different kinds of products may be displayed. Each of the boothshas a hanging-down section where a plurality of hooks are arranged in arow so that a plurality of packaging bags containing products can bedisplayed while the packaging bags are hanging down in the hanging-downsection. A display panel for indicating the type of displayed productsmay be disposed on the upper side of each booth. For example,characters, such as “bolts,” may be marked on the display panel so thata customer could readily recognize that bolts are displayed in the boothpositioned below the display panel. Such a display panel is disclosed,for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-68311.

However, the above display method requires relatively troublesomeoperations for displaying the products. In general, the display panel ismade of a large plate-shaped member in order to enable the recognitionof the products by a customer who may be located far away from thedisplay panel. Therefore, it is very troublesome to place such a largedisplay panel on the display rack. In addition, the large display panelmay ultimately reduce the space available for displaying the products.

Further, it is necessary to display the packaging bags at predeterminedpositions by hanging the packaging bags from the hooks. In general,store personnel may in turn hang the packaging bags at the predeterminedpositions by referencing the product information noted on the packagingbags. However, such product information may be noted on only a limitedportion of the packaging bag. Therefore, if some of the packaging bagshave been hung at inappropriate positions, it is not likely that thestore personnel would readily realize such circumstances.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to teach improvedmethods of displaying packaging bags, which methods enable storepersonnel to easily display the packaging bags on display racks.

In one aspect of the present teachings, methods are taught of displayinga plurality of packaging bags on a hanging-down region defined in asection of a display rack. The method includes the step of providing afirst display region and a second display region on each of thepackaging bags. The first display region shows a part of the genericinformation for the products contained within the packaging bags to bedisplayed in the section. The second display shows specific informationfor the products. The methods further include the step of hanging thepackaging bags in the hanging-down region at positions where the variousparts of the generic information of the hung-down packaging bagstogether form the completed generic information.

Here, the term “generic information” is used to mean information that isgeneral to the products contained in the plurality of packaging bags.For example, the generic information may be a pictorial image of theproduct or a character string indicative of the name of the product. Thespecific information may be the particular configuration, material,reference size, etc. of the product. The first and second regions may beprovided directly on the packaging bag or may be provided on a separatemember that is attached to the packaging bag. The products may befasteners such as screws, bolts, nuts, pins, and nails; fastener relatedparts such as washers; machine or architectural parts such as chains andwires; or materials such as pipes, bars, and plates.

With the above methods, the displayed packaging bags themselves mayprovide the completed generic information for the products. Therefore,it is not necessary to provide a separate display panel showing genericinformation. Because no work is required for positioning a separatedisplay panel, the total amount of work for displaying the packagingbags may be simplified.

In addition, because the packaging bags are hung down from thehanging-down region of the display rack such the packaging bags form thecomplete generic information, the store personnel can easily recognizethe improper positioning of the packaging bags in the event that thecomplete generic information has not been formed. As a result, anaccurate positioning operation of the packaging bags can be reliablyperformed.

In one embodiment, the generic information is a pictorial image of theproduct. The specific information is a reference size of the product.

In another embodiment, the hanging-down step includes the step ofmounting hooks in the hanging down region and engaging the packagingbags with the corresponding hooks.

In a further embodiment, the methods further include the step ofcoloring a part of the generic information of the first display regionwith a color indicative of the type of product.

In a further embodiment, the methods further include the step ofproviding a colored region surrounding at least a part of the specificinformation. The colored region may be colored with a color indicativeof the configuration of the product.

In another aspect of the present teachings, a combination of a pluralityof packaging bags is taught. Each of the packaging bags has a firstdisplay region. The first display region shows a part of a complete signindicative of the type of products contained within the packaging bags.The various parts of the complete sign of the first display regionstogether form the complete sign when the packaging bags are arranged atpredetermined positions relative to each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of a representative packaging bag; and

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a representative display rack showingpackaging bags displayed on the display rack according to arepresentative method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Each of the additional features and teachings disclosed above and belowmay be utilized separately or in conjunction with other features andteachings to provide improved methods for displaying packaging bags.Representative examples of the present invention, which examples utilizemany of these additional features and teachings both separately and inconjunction with one another, will now be described in detail withreference to the attached drawings. This detailed description is merelyintended to teach a person of skill in the art further details forpracticing preferred aspects of the present teachings and is notintended to limit the scope of the invention. Only the claims define thescope of the claimed invention. Therefore, combinations of features andsteps disclosed in the following detailed description may not benecessary to practice the invention in the broadest sense, and areinstead taught merely to particularly describe representative examplesof the invention. Moreover, various features of the representativeexamples and the dependent claims may be combined in ways that are notspecifically enumerated in order to provide additional usefulembodiments of the present teachings.

A representative embodiment will now be described with reference toFIGS. 1 and 2. In these figures, cross-hatching is used to represent acolor. In addition, different cross-hatching is used to representdifferent colors. Therefore, the regions with different cross-hatchingsare colored with different shades of colors.

(Representative Packaging Bag)

A representative packaging bag 30 will be first described with referenceto FIG. 1. The packaging bag 30 includes a display member 14 and a bagbody 24. The bag body 24 has an opening (not shown) and may be formedfrom a flat tubular film that is welded around a peripheral portionexcept for a portion corresponding to the opening. Screws 28, forexample, are shown as being placed within the bag body 24.

The display member 14 is made of a flat sheet-type member and is foldedinto two parts so as to clamp the bag body 24 in order to cover theopening of the bag body 24. A front portion 10, which is one of thefolded parts of the display member 14, is shown in FIG. 1. A backportion (not shown), which is the other of the folded parts, ispositioned on the backside in FIG. 1. The front portion 10 and the backportion are respectively bonded to the front surface and the backsurface of the bag body 24 by adhesive. The front portion 10 may have afirst display region 15 and a second display region 19.

The front portion 10 also may have printed information with regard tothe screws 28. The printed information may include a character array(e.g., “M3×30”) that is arranged in a horizontal direction at asubstantially central position of the front portion 10 and is indicativeof the reference size of the screw 28. The printed information may alsoinclude a pictorial image 28 a of the screw 28 positioned on the upperright region of the front portion 10.

The first display region 15 may have a rectangular configurationsurrounding the character array “M3×30” and is colored with a firstcolor related to the screw 28. In addition, a character portion “M3” ofthe character string “M3×30” is surrounded by a circular region 15 acolored with a second color that is different from the first color andis related to the part “M3” of the reference size.

The second display region 19 is a region of the front portion 10 otherthan the first display region 15 and may include an upper region 20 anda lower region 22 separated by the first display region 15. A coloredpartial pictorial image 20 a in this example including three curvedlines and a colored partial pictorial image 22 a including two curvedlines are respectively formed on the upper and lower regions 20 and 22and constitute parts of a pictorial image 43 of the screw 28 shown inFIG. 2. Thus, the pictorial image 43 may be completed by a combinationof the partial pictorial images 20 a and 22 a formed on the seconddisplay regions 19 of a number of packaging bags 30 that are displayedat predetermined positions on a representative display rack 60 shown inFIG. 2 as will be hereinafter described. Therefore, the pictorial images20 a and 22 a on the upper and lower regions 20 and 22 may varyaccording to the type of products contained within the packaging bag 30and may also vary according to the position the packaging bag 30 is tobe displayed on the display rack 60.

As shown in FIG. 2, a perforated line 16 (i.e., a tearable line) isformed on a part proximate to the upper edge of the front portion 10 andextends across the front portion 10 in a horizontal direction.Therefore, the back portion of the display member 14 may be separatedfrom the front portion 10 by tearing off the back portion along theperforated line 16 so that the customer can open the packaging bag 30.The customer can then access the screws 28 contained within the bag body24 via the upper opening. A through hole 18 is formed in the upper endportion of the display member 14 and is positioned centrally withrespect to the width of the display member 14. The through hole 18 isprovided for engagement to a hook 50 that will be explained later.

(Representative Display Rack)

The representative display rack 60 shown in FIG. 2 generally includes aflat plate-type vertical display panel 40 and a horizontal shelf 48. Aplurality of vertical partitions 42 may be attached to the display panel40 and extend perpendicular to the display panel 40. A booth may bedefined between two adjacent partitions 42, although only one booth isshown in FIG. 2. One of the two partitions 42 defining the booth mayhave a colored region 42 a indicative of the type of products (e.g.,such as screws or bolts in this representative embodiment) displayed inthe booth. In addition, pictorial images of the various kinds of screwsor bolts displayed in the booth may be printed on the one of the twopartitions 42. In this representative embodiment, five differentpictorial images 42 b 1, 42 b 2, 42 b 3, 42 b 4, and 42 b 5, of screwsand bolts are printed and arranged along the vertical direction. Inaddition, the pictorial image 42 b 1 disposed at the uppermost positioncorresponds to the screws 28 contained within the packaging bags 30.

The front surface of the display panel 40 of the booth is defined as ahanging down region 46, where a plurality of packaging bags 30 are hungdown at predetermined positions. To this end, a plurality of hooks 50are mounted on the front surface of the display panel 40 and arearranged in horizontal and vertical rows. In this representativeembodiment, the hooks 50 are arranged in six horizontal rows and sevenvertical rows.

(Representative Method of Displaying Packaging Bags)

In order to display the packaging bags 30, retail personnel may engagethe packaging bags 30 one after another at predetermined positions whilethe front portion 10 of the display member 14 of each packaging bag 30is oriented to the front side with respect to the front surface of thedisplay panel 40. The predetermined positions are the positions wherethe partial pictorial images 20 a and 22 a printed on the second displayregions 19 of the packaging bags 30 together form the complete pictorialimage 43 of the screw 28 (however, the screw 28 has the headconfiguration shown in 42 b 2). In this representative embodiment, thepartial pictorial images 20 a and 22 a of the packaging bag 30 shown inFIG. 1 corresponds to an image of the end portion of a shank of thescrew 28 and the packaging bag 30 is to be positioned at the thirdvertical row, as counted from the left side in FIG. 2, and at the bottomhorizontal row. Therefore, the hook 50, which is correspondinglypositioned at the third vertical row at the bottom horizontal row,engages the packaging bag 30 as shown in FIG. 2. Other hooks 50 may alsoengage the remaining packaging bags 30 (having different partial imagesof the screw 28 or having no partial image of the screw 28) atpredetermined positions in order to complete the pictorial image 43 andthe background image as shown in FIG. 2.

According to the representative embodiment, the displayed packaging bags30 together form the pictorial image 43 of the screw 28 (configured as42 b 2). Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a separate displaypanel showing the products contained within the packaging bags 30. As aresult, the necessary work required to completely display the packagingbags 30 may be minimized. In addition, the display space can beefficiently used because the display space may not be narrowed by theprovision of a separate display panel.

In addition, the display member 14 of the packaging bag 30 has thesecond display region 19 displaying parts of the pictorial image 43 ofthe screw 28 in addition to the first display region 15 for theinformation of the reference size of the screws 28. Because, thepackaging bags 30 may be displayed such that the partial pictorialimages of the packaging bags 30 together form the entire pictorial image43, retail personnel can easily determine whether or not the packagingbags 30 are correctly positioned by visually judging whether or not thepictorial image 43 has been completed. As a result, the operation ofpositioning the packaging bags 30 can be facilitated.

(Possible Modifications of Representative Embodiment)

The present invention may not be limited to the above representativeembodiment, but may be modified in various ways.

(1) The positional relationship between the first display region 15 andthe second display region 19 of the display member 14 may be suitablychanged. For example, the first display region 15 and the second displayregion 19 may be respectively defined by a lower half region and anupper half region as viewed in FIG. 1 of the front portion 10.Alternatively, the front portion 10 may include only the second displayregion 19, while the first display region 15 is defined on the backportion of the display member 14.

(2) The first display region 15 and the second display region 19 may bedirectly printed on the bag body 24 so that the display member 14 can beeliminated. In such a case, the opening of the bag body 24 may be closedby a fusion bonding process. This arrangement is advantageous because nodisplay member may be accidentally removed from the bag body 24 duringthe work of displaying the packaging bags 30.

(3) Although the second display region 19 displays the partial images ofthe pictorial image 43 of the screw 28 in the above representativeembodiment, the second display region 19 may display parts of a word(e.g., “SCREWS”) in addition to or instead of the partial images of thepictorial image 43. In addition, together the packaging bags 30 onlyform one pictorial image 43 in the above representative embodiment.However, a plurality of pictorial images 43 may be formed.Alternatively, a plurality of pictorial images of screws or bolts havingdifferent configurations and/or sizes may be formed. For example, thepictorial images 42 b 1 to 42 b 5 printed on the partition 42 may beformed across the arrangement of packaging bags 30.

(4) The portion of the second display region 19, other than the partialpictorial images 20 a and 22 a, is not printed upon and consequentlyexhibits the material color of the display member 14. However, such aportion may be colored with a different shade of color than the color ofthe pictorial images 20 a and 22 a. Otherwise, the partial pictorialimages 20 a and 22 may also exhibit the material color of the displaymember 14, except for the curved lines (i.e., the solid lines of thepictorial image).

(5) Information with regard to the correct display position may beprinted on the packaging bag 30. For example, the vertical rows of thehooks 50 may be designated as rows A, B, C, etc., from the left columnas viewed in FIG. 2. In addition, the horizontal rows of the hooks 50may be designated as rows 1, 2, 3, etc., from the top row. Therefore,the position of the packaging bag 30 shown in FIG. 1 may be designatedas “C-6.” By printing the designation “C-6” on the packaging bag 30, thestore personnel can correctly hang the packaging bag 30 on thecorresponding hook 50 with reference to the designation “C-6” on thepackaging bag 30. All the packaging bags 30 may have the printeddesignations of their positions. As a result, the store personnel cancorrectly position all the packaging bags 30, including those having noportion of the pictorial image 43.

(6) The positions of the through holes 18 of the packaging bags 30 maybe differently located relative to each other (e.g., closer to orfarther from the top edge of the packaging bag 30). More specifically,the positions of the through holes 18 may be determined so as tocorrespond to the predetermined positions of the packaging bags 30 to behung on the display rack 60. For example, if the positions of thethrough holes 18 of the packaging bags 30 to be displayed in the thirdvertical row shown in FIG. 2 are upward of the positions of the throughholes 18 of the remaining packaging bags 30, the store personnel canreadily recognize improper display positions of these packaging bags 30.Thus, if the packaging bag 30 shown in FIG. 1 has been engaged with ahook 50 that is positioned in the second vertical row and at the secondhorizontal row from the bottom, the lower end of the packaging bag 30shown in FIG. 1 may extend downward beyond the lower ends of other thepackaging bags 30 displayed in the same horizontal row. Therefore, theretail personnel can readily recognize the improper positioning of thepackaging bag 30 shown in FIG. 1, even if the intended packaging bag 30to be displayed at the second vertical row and at the second horizontalrow from the bottom has partial images 20 a and 22 a of the screw 28that are confusingly similar to those of the partial images 20 a and 22a of the packaging bag 30 shown in FIG. 1.

(7) An additional circular region may be printed so as to surround thehead of the pictorial image 28 a printed on the front portion 10. Theadditional circular region may be colored with a different color fromthe shade of color of the first display region 15 and may be indicativeof the configuration of the head of the screw 28. Also, the pictorialimage 43 may have an additional circular region colored with the samedifferent color. In addition, a dot(s) indicative of the price of thescrews 28 may be printed on the display member 14.

(8) The above representative embodiment has been described in relatingto the display of the packaging bags 30 containing the same screws 28 inthe booth. However, packaging bags 30 containing different products maybe displayed in the same booth. For example, the hanging-down region 46may be separated into an upper region and a lower region respectivelyincluding three horizontal rows of hooks 50. The packaging bags 30containing screws or bolts may be displayed at the upper region, whilethe packaging bags 30 containing nuts (engageable with the screws orbolts contained within the packaging bags 30 displayed at the upperregion) may be displayed at the lower region. The packaging bags 30 inthe upper region may together form a pictorial image of the screw orbolt, while the packaging bags 30 in the lower region may together forma pictorial image of the nut. Preferably, the pictorial image of thescrew or the bolt and the pictorial image of the nut may be colored withthe same shade of color. Then the customer would be able to readilyrecognize that the screws or bolts are engageable with the nuts.

1. A method of displaying a plurality of packaging bags in ahanging-down region defined in a section of a display rack, comprising:providing a first display region and a second display region on each ofthe plurality of packaging bags, wherein the first display region showsa part of generic information of products contained within the pluralityof packaging bags, and wherein the second display shows specificinformation of corresponding products contained within a correspondingpackaging bag; and hanging the each of the plurality of packaging bagsin the hanging-down region at positions where the parts of genericinformation of each of the plurality of packaging bags hung togetherform a complete generic information.
 2. The method as in claim 1;wherein the complete generic information is a pictorial image of theproducts contained within the plurality of packaging bags.
 3. The methodas in claim 1; wherein the specific information is a reference size ofthe corresponding products contained within the corresponding packagingbag.
 4. The method as in claim 1; wherein the hanging step furthercomprises mounting hooks in the hanging-down region and engaging each ofthe plurality of packaging bags with the appropriate corresponding hook.5. The method as in claim 1, further comprising coloring the part of thegeneric information of the first display region with a color indicativeof a type of the products contained within the plurality of packagingbags.
 6. The method as in claim 1, further comprising: providing acolored region surrounding at least a part of the specific information,wherein the colored region is colored with a color indicative of aconfiguration of the corresponding products contained within thecorresponding packaging bag.
 7. A method of displaying a plurality ofpackaging bags on a display rack, comprising: providing a first displayregion on each of the plurality of packaging bags, wherein the firstdisplay region shows a part of a complete sign indicative of a type ofproducts contained in the plurality of packaging bags, and positioningeach of the plurality of packaging bags in the display rack such thatthe parts of the complete sign of each of the plurality of packagingbags hanging down together form the complete sign.
 8. The method as inclaim 7; wherein the complete sign is a pictorial image of the type ofproducts contained within the plurality of packaging bags.
 9. The methodas in claim 7; wherein the complete sign is a word describing the typeof products contained within the plurality of packaging bags.
 10. Themethod as in claim 9; wherein the complete sign further comprises apictorial image of the type of products contained within the pluralityof packaging bags.
 11. The method as in claim 7; wherein the completesign is at least one pictorial image of a configuration of the type ofproducts contained within the plurality of packaging bags.
 12. Acombination comprising: a plurality of packaging bags each having afirst display region, wherein the first display region shows a part of acomplete sign indicative of a type of products contained within theplurality of packaging bags, and wherein the parts of the complete signof the first display regions form the complete sign when the pluralityof packaging bags are arranged together at predetermined positionsrelative to each other.
 13. The combination as in claim 12; wherein thecomplete sign is a pictorial image of the products contained within theplurality of packaging bags.
 14. The combination as in claim 12, whereineach of the plurality of packaging bags further includes a seconddisplay region showing product information with regard to a size ofcorresponding products contained within a corresponding packaging bag.15. The combination as in claim 14, further including a colored regionsurrounding at least a part of the product information, wherein thecolored region is colored with a color determined to indicate areference size of the corresponding products contained within thecorresponding packaging bag.
 16. The combination as in claim 12, whereineach of the plurality of packaging bags further includes a secondcomplete pictorial image of corresponding products contained within acorresponding packaging bag printed on the corresponding packaging bag.